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Pantry Talk

“Hey honey, let’s split up this package of tissue boxes. There’s five in there, and I only need a couple of them.”

“Didn’t you say your son likes chicken? There’s a whole one in the freezer section. Chef Nancy taught us how to cook those–you want it?”

“Here’s the toothbrushes you need!”

“Can we split this set of paper towels, too?”

“Wait, nevermind–I don’t need those.” (Imagine this speaker shaking her head and placing the package of cookies back on the rack.)

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Three women. All single mothers with multiple children. All noticeably older than the young women they sit in college classes with. All of whom are surviving–no, triumphing–over the circumstances that have led them to be Family Scholar House residents.

Yesterday these three women visited the FSH pantry and supply area together. The pantry is regularly stocked by Dare to Care. The supply area is thankfully often full of donations from FSH supporters, both individuals and local businesses. In this pantry and supply area can be found kitchen staples and basic household items. Paper towels, Kleenex, cleaning agents–these can all strain a meager budget, no matter how carefully it is managed. And food stuffs courtesy of Dare to Care are how many of our families are able to put balanced, healthy meals on the table.

Yesterday these women “shopped” together–chattering and laughing, exchanging stories about their children and their professors and what stresses them out. They helped each other find what was needed, encouraged each other to get what would work best in each household (“I don’t know how to cook that chicken–but you do–take it.”).

They are community–kindred spirits in their common endeavor to be the best scholars and mothers they can be. Their few minutes in the pantry embodied what matters most about Family Scholar House–our belief that we are–all of us–stronger together.